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In this episode, Mike and Wendy Lynn delve into the mysteries of Lysergic acid diethylamide, or as it’s better known by its acronym, LSD (or its street name, acid). The show starts with a discussion of the invention of LSD in the 1930s, and then into how LSD became the “drugs” in sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. Then they go into detail on the difference between acid and other drugs and the Steve Jobs method for tripping.

The conversation turns to LSD and pop culture, starting with author Aldous Huxley’s experiments and his influence on Jim Morrison and The Doors. Mama Cass returns to the podcast as we discuss her relationship with the drug. Then it’s the CIA’s MKUltra mind control experiments (Muse would later write a song about it as well) on soldiers and prostitutes in the 1950s, The Men Who Stare At Goats, the counterculture of the 1960s, Dr. Timothy Leary and his influence on Fringe’s Doctor Walter Bishop, and Mad Men.

“I know what it’s like to be dead”, is what Peter Fonda kept saying when The Beatles tripped with him and The Byrds. And then they go into John, Paul, George, and Ringo’s experiences with acid and their songs that were based on those experiences with not only “Lucy Inn the . Then it’s The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, “acid house”, and other tracks that have been influenced by tripping on LSD.

They then finish the conversation with how acid was made illegal to get back at the anti-war hippies and how now LSD has finally been made legal for research in the present, hopefully leading to a common sense policy on humanity’s relationship with the substance.

Links:

Sam Harris, “Drugs and the Meaning of Life”

LSD, Magic Mushrooms & CIA Mind Control Experiments!

“Fringe and The Harvard Psychedelic Club”

Rolling Stone, “100 Greatest Beatle Songs”, “Tomorrow Never Knows”

Popular Science, “Why Doctors Can’t Give You LSD (But Maybe They Should)”

Featured Song: Psychonaut by Sunspot

No man is an island,
And when you trip it’s doubly so.
No one is ever alone,
A special kind of radio.
Tune in to go deeper,
Turn on, let it go.
Drop out in the ether,
Drop into the whole.

Alice through the glass.
Alice through the glass.

Tune in to go deeper,
Turn on, let it go.
Drop out in the ether,
Drop into the whole.

I was stuck for so long in one modality,
But now I see I belong, there’s more reality.
Alice through the glass.
Alice through the glass.
I was stuck for so long in one modality,
But now I see I belong, there’s more reality.
Jim goes through the door.
Jim goes through the door.